Remixing "Kill Uncle" – If Ronson or Finn had been at the helm

s writes:

Kill Uncle has often been derided for its bland, undeveloped production. I’ve remixed the album and re-ordered the tracks in an attempt to bring its production quality closer to “Your Arsenal” or “You are the Quarry” (since I don’t have the original master, I couldn’t mix it as precisely as I’d like or undo the reverb on Morrissey's voice). In some cases I just filled out the sound with guitars/emulated the live version, and in others I adding new elements to enhance the song (for e.g., Driving Your GF, End of the Family Line). Hope you like it, thanks for listening either way. It's available at:

http://www.smithstorrents.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4141

Here was my approach to changes (I remastered all the songs, which improves the clarity and makes them sound consistent relative to one another):

1. Our Frank – significant changes. Original has boring, hokey production, like a Madness song. I added a number of guitars to fill out the song and make it edgier.
2. Asian Rut – no changes. The song is unusual, a storytelling in ¾ time (a waltz beat, which limited the musical possibilities). I experimented with adding guitars, cymbals, etc., but decided to leave it alone because anything I did wouldn’t be better, just different.
3. Sing Your Life – moderate changes. Original is okay but lacks “edge”. I added the strumming and distortion riff used by the band in the KROQ session.
4. Mute Witness – mild changes. Original is really well produced, just a little thin in the background. I added a couple of background guitars mimicking the original riffs to fill out the sound.
5. King Leer – moderate changes. Original lacks the swing of the band’s live version, so I sped it up and added some guitars and a small bass riff to make it closer to the live version.
6. Driving Your Girlfriend Home – significant changes. Original has boring production, lwith hardly any musical changes between the verse, chorus and bridge (like beat poetry over a jazz improv). I added guitars/harps to improve the emotional effect of the song.
7. I’m the End of the Line – significant changes. Original has terrible production (the tempo’s off, the drums and bass have no groove). I sped up the song, added a new bass line and a number of string parts to create some drama.
8. Tony the Pony (this song was on my US released CD) – significant changes. Original has okay production, though the bass line is too similar to Sing Your Life and the instrumentation is predictable. I added some guitar riffs to take it in a new direction.
9. Found Found Found – no changes. Good production.
10. There’s a Place In Hell for Me and my Friends – no changes. Original has good production, and the KROQ live version is a good alternative rock version.
11. The Harsh Truth of the Camera Eye – mild changes. Again, the song is unusual, and the production’s carnival-esque atmosphere plays off of this. I felt the tempo was languid and the intro/outro indulgent, so I sped up and shortened the song (and since I think it’s the weakest of the songs, moved it to the end of the album), but otherwise left it alone.

If you add in the singles/b-sides from this era (My Love Life, the Loop, Pregnant for the Last Time), I think it improves the album dramatically, just like the re-release of Maladjusted was improved by the various b-sides.

 

[Anonymous]

I didn't listen to it but I like what it has accomplished and I'd say it's been a huge success. I like that it's supposedly Morrissey's worst album that has been improved. I'm dissapointed that it appears to be sincere because if it was trolling it would be genius! Take Morrissey's worst record and record new parts on it. Hell, speed it up! I love it. This is the only reason this board is justified in its existence, for these types of incidents and the threads about them.

That person that took the drums off the start of Speedway a couple of years ago should take notes. If you want to combine Morrissey, trolling, and recording software, this is how it's done.

 

[Skylarker]

Re: Kill Uncle remastered

I agree with the OP. For "hateful online creche" to have been added to the site name isnt funny in the least: it's pathetic, desperate & embarrassing, and demonstrates only that this site exists to pursue a vendetta against Morrissey.

So the next time Morrissey is on stage and references an old album of his with some tongue in cheek, self-effacing quip like "here's a song from an album nobody bought" we should take him 100 percent literally, because there's no way he could juts be taking the piss and making an obviously smart-assed statement?

Here's a thought: At this point David probably doesn't give much of a shit what Morrissey thinks of the site. It's been many years since this site was started and a great deal has happened since then. It's now less an assumedly uniform celebration of Morrissey than it is a cohesive round table where people familiar with Morrissey's work can discuss his current and previous activity, and all related subjects, with relatively non existent barriers regarding free speech...not for the purpose of paying homage to Morrissey but for the purpose merely of discussing him. And that takes many shapes and forms and goes in many directions...as all good discussions should be able to do.

It's his site and he can call it what he wants to. If you take the renaming of the site's tagline as evidence that David is out to get Morrissey and now he wants to shout that fact from the rooftop, fine. But you're wrong; anyone with a smidgen of brain can see it's a joke on David's part based on an unwarranted, shitty aside made by Morrissey.

As for your other comment, it's abolutely clear what was meant, and it simply shows the poverty of your argument (not for the first time) when you have to pick holes the literal meaning. Ah the mighty intellects and rapier-like wit of the So Low mods... (that was sarcasm, by the way, Skylarker - it wasn't intended LITERALLY).

Yes, it was clear to me what you meant. I picked holes merely because I enjoy picking holes. Because you're stupid, and you're a spurned former registered site member who now has to post anonymously when you want to throw in your useless two cents, and you don't express yourself very well, and I enjoy making fun of you. That's all.

 

[Anonymous]

All credit to this fella for having a go at remixing 'Kill Uncle'.

However, it just sounds like Morrissey, who sometime in the future, has given up his full live band and has taken to touring the circuit of working men's club, singing over a flowery karaoke style backing track.

I'm not wanting to knock this fella, cos he's obviously as much a fan as anyone else on here.

But the folk who are just ripping into him are being a bit over the top.

 

[Anonymous]

I think people might have been less scornful if the original remixer had been a bit more humble, and said - "Hey, I don't think much of Kill Uncle, so I tried to overdub some guitar in my bedroom on the tracks"? When however the big headline is this person claiming to be as good as Mick Ronson or Jerry Finn, then you have to a) have a massive ego, and b) have the chops to back it up. This guy plainly doesn't. Its an amatuer fan remix, and should be treated as such (hell, it shouldnt even be a headline news story!)

 

[Anonymous]

Having heard "Kill Uncle" many moons ago - over and over and over again for many weeks, and then listening to what Boz did with the rewrite on THERE IS A PLACE IN HELL FOR ME AND MY FRIENDS - then I can tell you that no ammount of amateur production, amateur re-production, overdubbing, re-sampling, amateur remixing on that album would make any different.

Boz just took that song and he did such a fantastic job. It was 20+years ago. Can't believe it but it's been so much better for it ever since. That sound is a classic. The early version on Kill Uncle is amateurish musically - not vocally.

A few years after it's original release, I did wonder what "Kill Uncle" would have turned out like if Clanger and Winstanley had done the production. Too late now just curiuos.... Street did a 'reasonable' job with what he had at that time and also in terms of the equipment available and so on. The lyrics are better than the melodies and sounds to be honest, in my opinion. Only a total re-working of that album by Boz and the band would be worth it. That would be a good few days work though BUT it would do it some justice to those lyrics which are somewhat stunning at times.

Strawberry.

 

[mcrickson]

A few years after it's original release, I did wonder what "Kill Uncle" would have turned out like if Clanger and Winstanley had done the production. Too late now just curiuos.... Street did a 'reasonable' job with what he had at that time and also in terms of the equipment available and so on.

...Langer and Winstanley DID produce "Kill Uncle"...Street had nothing to do with the album.

 

[123xyz]

I'm now quite certain that I prefer this remixed version of "Driving Your Girlfriend Home" to the original. Thanks to the person who took the time to reinterpret the track...

 

[DAVIE]

the guitar sound is a bit too new for an early 90s record...not for me.

 

[Noah]

for those who don't do torrents:

http://rapidshare.com/users/remixed/4228

Could you repost this? Link seems to be dead? Would love to hear this remixed Kill Uncle.